1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a character entry device which is suitable for use in apparatuses such as word processers and personal computers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When it is necessary to enter characters such as Japanese syllabic characters (kana characters) into an apparatus such as a word processer, the characters are entered by operating, usually depressing, those character keys provided on the keyboard which correspond to the desired characters. When it is desired to enter kanji characters (Chinese characters), they are usually entered by executing kana/kanji conversions in which kana characters input through corresponding character keys are converted into the corresponding kanji characters. On the other hand, when it is necessary to enter certain characters such as some kanji characters which cannot be entered by executing kana/kanji conversions and symbols which cannot be input through the keyboard, they are entered by various input methods. Such methods are executed by, for instance, an input of a predetermined four-digit code, a symbol input, an input using the correspondence between multiple readings of a kanji character, a non-standard character (user-synthesized character) input, an alphabetical character input, or an input using the classification of various radical elements of kanji characters. For instance, in an input method in which a predetermined code is input, a four-digit code number (graphic character code number) is inputted by operation of ten keys.
With this arrangement, however, when it is necessary to re-enter a character which has previously been entered by a predetermined character code input method, the four-digit code number corresponding to that character has to be input again. This makes the input operation complicated. The problem is particularly serious when the character is frequently used and when the user has to input the four-digit code number each time it is used.